Keeping Gramercy Park Clean, Quiet and Empty

Photo courtesy New York Daily Photo.

Meet Arlene Harrison, the self-described “Mayor of Gramercy Park.” She’s the one to talk to if undesirables are spotted infiltrating the private oasis, which requires a key for entry and exit, as two women recently discovered when a maintenance worker ejected them during their Saturday picnic. How did he know they were not quite the right material? They were probably breaking the rules by enjoying the park.

Harrison, who runs the Gramercy Park Block Association, would never enter it for such crass purposes. The Times spent a snobby day with her as she made her daily 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. rounds to confer with the supers and property owners who hold coveted keys to Manhattan’s only private park. She explains that she rejected a proposed playground because it's "too much wear and tear. The children who grow up here learn to use their imagination." And the park should be used (enjoyed?) as little as possible because it “was always an ornamental park...like a hotel room with a view of the ocean.”

Besides outlawing Frisbees, soccer balls, and other imagination-impeding devices, the profile goes on to detail a bitter feud between Harrison and the president of the National Arts Club, whose “populist agitations” would turn the fastidiously manicured park into a place for parties and dancing. Not on Harrison’s watch – she started the block association in 1994 after her son was violently mugged in front of her building. Which speaks volumes about her crusade to impose a bit of flawless order on an always unpredictable city.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on June 19, 2008 3:18 PM

Comments [rss]

ironybubble

I used to walk by there all the time, and yeah... thanks for beating me to it! The poetic justice conjured by the sight of hundreds of nyc dogs pissing on the walls to the place each day made me kind of chuckle every time.

west side Michael

Yah der dog piss really gets to the homeowners there

it makes them have to replace the sidewalk and

concrete that holds up the fence bout every 10 yrs.

They used to,(perhaps still do?) have a "Canine Carnival" outside the park. Fun for the old

farts,fun,fun.fun.They announce the doggie carnival

ever so quietly to make sure only the area

people show up,cute,cute,cute.

Priv Vah See.

sonyactivision

Why not collect all the dogshit from around that gated fortress and fling it over the fence as well? Arlene could use some likeminded companions.

JacqueMehoff

make sure that 10 lb bag of birdseed accidentally has a hole in it. maybe that carrot punctured it while it was put in your bag. you know this place has cameras everywhere. then we can mao tse dong that place with flying pigeons.

west side Michael

What's wrong with economic segregation the rich

and wannabees have always had the illusion of

PRIV ah cee.

How is this private park any different that your

average schmuck doorman in our buildings asking

who you wish to see when stepping inside.

Unless you or your family need food we let them

have there illusions of being private and safe.

I have seen Julia Roberts leave her home across

from the park once has nuttin to do with this story

on this nutjob lady who shud dah been a well doorman.

jfernandez

I'm totally chucking some birdseed next time I go past. Brilliant idea.

Bubba

Hey Kevin:

They cancelled the public day last year too. By the way, apparently the park doesn't pay any taxes. I'm sure they're scamming public money in other ways as well...

thefacts

36 comments indicate that she at least has a life and the other 36 don't.

It's private property, a private park, she is the head of the association that maintains it. Why is that so hard to understand, you effing commies?

Do you give a crap what someone in Queens does with their back yard? Of course not.

Does she tell you how to maintain your apartment? Of course not.

You are being manipulated.

So, STFU and grow a roof garden of your own, whiners!

Jerky

Wow, what a serious self-centered disgusting cunt!

JacqueMehoff

the birdseed/bread crumbs sounds like a plan.

I hope that was her only son.

Mr Mel

You can bet her kids are losers.

Kevin Walsh

Gramercy Park should be open to all New Yorkers. This is ridiculous.

I hear that May 31st was promised as a day the park would be open to all. They reneged.

www.forgotten-ny.com

sonyactivision

Oh, and #29, Actors are still "undesirables".

sonyactivision

I always lend my "key" to those nice kids on the subway in the hoodies. They tell me how enriching the greenery and fresh air has been to their lives as muggers, stabbers nad petty thieves.

tsol

What part of 'private property' don't you commies understand? The city couldn't maintain the public parks it has already without private donations.

If Gramercy Park hadn't been guarded and nurtured since it was established in 1831, the land it sits on would just be another couple of blocks of overpriced brownstones. Or the park would have spent most of the last 180 years as an open-air urinal ike Tompkins Square

Anna_Merkin

What's interesting is that actors were among the first to live around Gramercy Park, and during that time, actors were considered undesirables in "proper" society.

Murray Hillster

@14

Yeah it's private. It was public for a bit in the '80s (as I've been told by someone that was a resident at that time), but it's now supposed to be private (i.e., for residents of the buildings).

glennQNYC

If you could choose a condo complex, or Gramercy Park, which would you choose?

Where is the tolerance?!?

cchelseac

If it becomes public it will just eventually be turned into another of NYU's "campuses". Think of what happened to Washington square. Keep it private

Spirit of 76

Hope her children grow up to be imaginative, morbidly obese, lazy and crippled by heart disease. What does she need an ornamental park for, anyway? She can always just imagine it instead.